An unmanned Russian spacecraft was set to become the first to ever land on the moon’s south pole Monday, but the mission unexpectedly failed when the spacecraft spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed into the moon.
The Luna-25 lander was the country’s first lunar mission since the 1970s, The New York Times reported.
What went wrong?
Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, stated that it lost contact with the robotic spacecraft on Saturday, 47 minutes after the engine started firing to enter the moon’s orbit.
As Luna 25 attempted the pre-landing orbit, it reported an “emergency situation.”
“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” Roscosmos confirmed in a statement, per The Associated Press.
It is unclear what caused the crash. However, Dr. Natan Eismont, a senior scientist of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told The New York Times he believed that most likely “the braking thrust was either too strong or it was in a wrong direction.”
An interagency commission will investigate the reasons for the mission’s failure, CNN reported.
The space race to the lunar south pole
The Luna-25 mission was in a space race against India to become the first country to land a spacecraft on the moon’s south pole. Scientists believe the area may have frozen water that would be invaluable to future missions.
The Russian spacecraft’s unsuccessful landing means India may win the race to the lunar south pole.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission is scheduled to land on the moon Wednesday, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO.
How to watch the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing
The Chandrayaan-3 moon landing is scheduled for 6:34 a.m. MDT on Aug. 23.
A livestream of the event will begin on the ISRO’s official YouTube channel starting at 5:57 a.m. MDT.
Watch the livestream below: